Whether you are looking for professional development, funding, educational resources, environmental data, or field experiences, we offer a variety of programs and materials to fit your needs.

Professional Development

• Aquatic Invasive Species - learn about local aquatic invasive species and interactive lessons to teach about these species
• Envirothon - learn about Maryland’s natural resources and compete in local and state competitions (grades 9-12)
• Explore and Restore Maryland Streams - engage students in studying and monitoring streams and conducting stewardship projects to improve the health of our waterways (grades K-12)
• Teachers on the Estuary - learn about the Chesapeake Bay through interactive, hands-on lessons (grades 6-12)
• Growing Up WILD - learn how to connect young children to nature using developmentally appropriate practices aligned with state and national standards; elective curriculum credit for daycare providers may be available (grades preK-2nd)
• Flying WILD - hands-on bird education curriculum supplement (grades 4-8)
• Project Learning Tree - (grades K-8)
• Project WET - learn ways to teach students about water and conservation through an interdisciplinary, hands-on workshop; partial MSDE credit may be available (grades K-12)
• Project WILD - learn ways to teach students about wildlife and conservation through an interdisciplinary, hands-on workshop; partial MSDE credit may be available (grades K-12)
• Green Eggs and Sand Curriculum and Workshops - A middle and high school science curriculum based on the horseshoe crab along with educator immersion workshops.
• Outdoor Learning on Public Lands - Professional development for enriching your outdoor learning activities and getting acquainted with what our public lands have to offer. Half-day, outdoor workshops.

 

Click here for upcoming education workshops

Funding

• Aquatic Resources Education (ARE) grants - apply for up to $2,000 a year to support student driven projects that benefit Maryland’s aquatic resources
• Chesapeake Bay Trust Environmental Education Grant Program - apply for grants to expand and enhance Bay environmental education programs for pre-K through grade 12 students in Maryland.
• NOAA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET Chesapeake) grant program - apply for grants to support hands-on watershed education for students and teachers to foster stewardship of the Bay
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Environmental Education Grants Program - apply for grants that support projects promoting environmental awareness and stewardship.

Educational Resources

• Aquatic Invasive Species Curriculum & Trunk - interdisciplinary lesson plans and resources designed to teach about Maryland’s aquatic invasive species (grades 2-12)
• Arbor Day - activities for elementary students to learn about Arbor Day (grades K-5)
• Bay Backpack - resources to supplement and to provide meaningful watershed educational experiences (grades K-12)
• Career Day
• Check Up - learn how to identify and implement actions that are good for the environment and make economic sense with this web-based guide (grades 6-12)
• Climate Change 1 - a collection of climate and energy educational resources
• Climate Change 2 - news, research, special reports, videos, all related to climate change
• Envirothon - learn about Maryland’s natural resources and compete in local and state competitions (grades 9-12)
• Explore and Restore Maryland’s Streams - instructional resources for studying and monitoring streams are based on work done by Department of Natural Resources scientists (grades K-12)
• Estuaries 101 - interactive, web-based curricula on the world of estuaries (grades 6-12)
• Scales and Tales - invite animal ambassadors into the classroom to learn about local wildlife, adaptations, and more (grades K-12)
• Schoolyard Wildlife Habitat - learn how to make your schoolyard wildlife friendly; includes lesson plans, funding ideas, and identification tools (grades K-12)
• Storm Drain Stenciling - participate in a service learning activity that raises awareness about storm drains (grades K-12)
• Sunfish and Students - raise sunfish in the classroom and release (grades 4-12)
• Trout in the Classroom - raise trout from eggs to fingerlings and then release them into a state-approved cold water stream or lake (grades K-12)
• WILD at Schools - free, one hour (K-5) school programs focused on local wildlife and tailored to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)​​
• Wildlife Education Trunks - bring the outside into your classroom with these free hands-on, interdisciplinary teaching tools, which contain artifacts and activities to learn about wildlife (grades K-12)
• Maryland State Department of Education Environmental Education ToolKit - resources to assist with meeting state environmental literacy standards: the Environmental Literacy Standards, Curricular Infusion By Grade-bands, and a number of additional resources and guidance materials for grades Pre-K to 12.
  

Environmental Data

Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Resources

• Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission - provides data on harvested fish such as American eels
• Eyes on the Bay - access real-time Chesapeake and Coastal Bays water quality monitoring data
• Chesapeake Bay Program - a regional partnership that leads and directs Chesapeake Bay restoration and protection. FAQs about Bay and watershed.
• Coastal and Estuarine Geology Program - provides information on coastal environment geology and changing shorelines of the Bay and the Atlantic coast.
• Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program - measures key components of the ecosystem, including pollutant inputs, water quality, habitat and living resources.

Geology

• Groundwater - online groundwater flow models and data
• Maryland Geological Survey  - reports, maps, and data on Maryland’s geology

Streams

• Maryland Biological Stream Survey - a comprehensive program to assess the status of biological resources in Maryland's non-tidal streams

Mapping

• Maryland FieldScope - a project supporting the Explore and Restore Maryland Streams program. Enter watershed data and virtually explore your watershed.
• MERLIN - (Maryland Environmental Resource and Land Information Network) - online mapping repository for Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial data for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Identify the closest natural resources that surround your school and community.
• Maryland Stream Health - an interactive map showing stream health around the state
• Coastal Atlas - an online mapping and planning tool that allows state and local decision-makers to explore and analyze data for coastal and ocean planning activities
• Groundwater Level Mapper Tool - an interactive map that provides water levels measured in wells in the Maryland Observation Well Network
• Coastal Plain Geologic and Geophysical Log map - an interactive map that provides access to logs of sediments/rocks encountered during drilling and borehole geophysical data.

Wildlife

• White-tailed Deer - annual project report on Maryland’s deer population

Field Experiences

• Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) - offers hands-on outdoor science learning with focus on wetlands, forests, and Bay watershed (pre K-12; public)
• Maryland State Forests
• Maryland State Parks
• Maryland Natural Areas - online guide to 31 unique natural areas around Maryland
• Bay Backpack - resources to supplement and to provide meaningful watershed educational experiences (grades K-12) includes teaching materials, locations for field studies, training, funding and more.